Aircraft arresting apparatus



June 7, 1960 N. D. FULTON ETAL 2,939,656

AIRCRAFT ARRESTING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 6, 1956 u lal nmlmlmlmlmlm MTHIM n INVENTORS NA THAN/EL 0. F01. TON

3 ROTH MA YER FIG. 1

A/oa Y June 7, 1960 N. D. FULTON ET 2,939,656

AIRCRAFT ARRESTING APPARATUS Filed June 6, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FlG 3 INVENTORS NA THAN/EL D, F UL TON June 7, 1960 N. D. FULTON E 2,939,656

AIRCRAFT ARRESTING APPARATUS Filed Jun 6, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet s 5o 2? FIG. 4 1 29- u u H I FIG. 5

INVENTORS NATHAN/1. 0. FULTON N062 v. pow/MA YER GENT t Se re o ments, to Thiokol Chemical Corporation, a corporation of Delaware a Filed .Tune 6, 1956, Ser. No. 589,792

4 Claims. (Cl. 244-110) "The present invention relates to aircraft'arresting means and more particularly to braking devices and controlled deceleration mechanismtherefor. I

The principal object of the invention is to provide a friction brake which can be accurately controlled tov effect any given rate, magnitude and duration of deceleration applied to a moving vehicle the limits of the apparatus.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple aircraft arresting'system constructed of available commercial equipment and employing moving parts of low inertia.

A more particular object is to provide an aircraft arresting apparatus that may be readily adjusted to arrest aircraft traveling in different directions.

In carrying out the objects of the invention, there is provided a pair of parallel rails securely anchored, upon each of which is mounted a carriage for sliding movement thereon. Tension devices normally hold the carriages near one end of the rails and an arresting cable is connected to the forward ends of the carriages. This cable is engaged by the aircraft on landing and causes the carriages to travel along the rails and, as they do so, braking mechanisms therein grip the rails with a controlled force to gradually decelerate the aircraft; For applying the brakes there is provided a camming rail toone side of and parallel with each carriage supporting rail. The brakes are pneumatically applied and the system contemplates a valve controller .in cooperative relationship with the camming rail which is so configured that, asthe' carriage advances, the valve controller is operated to Referring the drawings, 10 represents the main guide rails extending in parallel and spaced about 170 10 hasa length of about 10 feet and at itsforward end.

feetapart, which are anchored to cross ties 11 provided in turn with ground anchors '12. A length of about 1,000

feet, is contemplated for the rails.

'A' carriage 13 slidably supported on each of the rails is provided with a connection 14 to which .cable 15 is detachably secured. The cable 15 passes around sheaves 16 as shown in Fig. 1. To maintain tension in the cable, the rear ends of carriages 13 have connections 14a, to

which further cable connections 17 are made to tensioning devices 18 which may be well known forms of spring drum devices. With the arrangement shown, the drums 18 hold the carriages 13 in the positions shown with cable.

15 under tension.

The operation is such that the arresting hook of an aircraft landing in a direction from'bottom to top of Fig. 1 will engage the horizontalsection of cable 15, causeit to bow between the sheaves 16 and then draw carriages 13along rails 10. During such excursion, brakes carried by the carriages will be applied to resist and decelerate the aircrafts pull to bring it to a stop.

The arrangement of the apparatus is such that the. carriages may be initially located at the opposite or upper ends of ralis 10 as indicated in dotted outline in Fig. 1. In such case, the upper end of each carriage is connected to tensioning device 18a through cable 17a and the cable the sheave and cable arrangement shown substantially reduces the impact on the cable and aircraft at contact and immediately thereafter. This is due to the fact that at contact the aircraft has to set in motion only that por tion of the cable stretched between the sheaves, while the apply the brakes at a gradual rate increasing to the max- I irnum required to bring the aircraft to a stop within a specified distance. A presettable limiting control is provided to regulate the applied braking pressure for" plane weights to be arrested.

A stillfu rther object of the invention resides in the provision of a parachute device arranged to supplement the braking action by absorbing a large percentage of'the initial energyrequired for stopping the aircraft.

sult ifthe motion were linear.

Other objects of the invention will be po nted out. in

the following description andclaims and illustrated in .the accompanying drawings, whichjdisclos'fby way of examples, the principle of the invention and the best mode,

i which has been contemplated, 'of applying that principle.

landing apparatus the carriage taken on remaining cable and the braking carriagesare at rest, gradually increasing in speed as' the cable geometry changes following contact of aircraft and cable. It is not until the "cable sections on either side of the engagement point are linearly extended that the carriages and cable move with the same velocity as the aircraft. Furthermore, the initial motion imparted to that portion of" V thecable stretched between the sheaves is a rotary rather than a linear motion, which reduces the inertia of that which would're-.

portionof the cable by one-half of that Brakingmechanism Referring particularly to Figs. 2, 4 and 5, the carriage 13 is provided with a plurality of guide rollers 20 through fwhich thecarriage is supported on rail 10 and directional thrust is borne.

Brake shoes 21, provided with cooling fins 22, are spaced along the carriage to engage the upper and lower sides of the rail head as shown in Fig. 4.

The lower brake shoes are carried by arms 23 pivoted at 2.4 to the carriage frame with the outer ends of arms 23 adapted to be depressed by plungers of air or hydraulic cylinders 25 secured to the carriage. The upper-brake shoe 21 is directly acted upon by the plunger of a further air cylinder 25.

Air or other fluid under pressure is directed from a supply tank 26 mounted on carriage 13-, through regulating valve 27 and lines 28 to the several brake actuating cylinders 25.

The valve 27 has an arm 29 connected by a link 30 to Patented June 7, .1960

a lever 31 which has a reller $2 at its free end in engagement with an inclined surface or 33. A 34 biases the linkage in a direction tending to open valve 27 and direct brake applying pressure to cylinder 25, as carriages l'3 adva'nce along rails following eng'agement.

This earn 33, of which there is one for each carriage 13 (see Fig. l) and a counterpart at the opposite end of the" rails for reverse Operation of the apparatus, is secured to the cross ties 11 as shown in Fig. 4 and is tapered to form an incline, calculated in accordance with the maxi- Inum landing force that is to be handled to operate valve and enable application of the brakes in a gradually increasing manner. The valve 27 (Fig. 2) may be provided with a presettable limiting control lay-pass or bleeder 50 which limit the pressure in the braliiiig' cylinder to a value, irrespective of the sneer of tra el along course 33. Thus, the braking forceand aircraft deceleration can be conveniently and quickly preadjusted to accommodate aircraft of different. landing weights or structural limitations.

R ecapitulating the operation of the apparatus, the

arresting cable is engagedby an aircraft on landing, with the forward motion of the aircraft causing the cable to exceed the preset cable tension and start mevemeawr the carriages. The brake shoes start to travel down the rails at it gradually accelerating velocity determined by the geometry of the system. At the start of travelthe aircraft might travel, for example, about 210 feet while the brake shoe assemblies travel 75 feet. During this interval, the cam operated rne zcha'nism, shown as pneumatic by way of example, allows gradual application. of braking force to; the brake shoes with the: load beihg gradually in creased to the maximum required to bring the aircraft to a stop within a specified distance. I r

After the aircraft comes to a stop, the brakes are re-' leased by venting brake actuating cylinders 25; and the cables removed from engagement with the aircraft. Suitable mobile units may be employed to return the earnages' to their original positions for the next landing, and the arresting cable will also be run back and placed in posi-- tion ohthe" sheaves. I

The apparatus finds further utility as a sarty system for runwayoverrun and can readily be installed at the extremity of a flying field runway.

Fig. 3 illustrates diagrammatically themanner in which a parachute may be employed to supplement the braking action of carriage .13. An extension 40 of carriage 13 is provided with a trough 4-1 in aparachute 43 may be laid outho rizontally and provided with an erecting device 42, connected to cable 15 through a connection 44 to open the parachute after a predetermined runout.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment, itwillbe understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and detailsof the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is'the ineach carriage and arranged to travel along and incontact with its related cam, said cam beingconfigu-red to operate the control device to cause the same to vary the effect of its related braking mechanism during the movemerit of the carriage. H p

2. An aircraft arresting apparatus having a rail member, a carriage mounted on said rail member for movement thereon and an aircraft engaging cable connectedto the'carria'ge'at one end for drawing the carriage along the rail, combination with braking means for the carriage comprising friction brakes mounted on the carriage and engageable with the rail to retard the movement o'fthe carriage, a spri g, for causing operation of the braking means and a stationary brake operating control device positioned alongside the rail for normally rendering said spring inefiective and for causing the spring to become effective during movement of the carriage whereby said brakes will be applied in a predetermined manner in ac;

cordance with the position of the carriage with respect to said control device. i

V 3 An aircraft arresting apparatus having a rail diein her of predetermin d length, a car iage Ineunted on said rail member for movement thereon in bothdirctioiis and initially positionable near either end of saidrau member, in combination with an aircraft engaging cable selectively connectible to said carriage to draw the same along the rail member from its initial position, braking" means for the carriage supported'thereby and arranged to grip the rail member to retard the movement of the earri'age, brake operating control devices positioned alongside therail, the deviceibeing effective tocause said brakiug means to be applied in a predetermined manner in accordance with the position of the carriage with respect to said control device.

V 4. In an apparatus of the class described, a guidefrail', a carriage thereon and initially positioned at either end of said rail, an aircr' aft arresting cable connectible' to said carriage to draw the same albhg' the rail from itsiini'tia'l position, braking mechanism supported by the carriage, and means located near both ends ofsaid fail for operating: said braking mechanism during the movement of the carriage in'eith'ei' direction along said rail.

References Cited in thefile of this patent i'JNiTED STATES PATENTS" 24,88,051 Brodie Nov. 15, 1949 mew 

